As a novice gardener, I have found many instructional books to be overwhelming; their scope is often too wide for my purposes. The Garden Project Workbook Series, however, provides clear instructions for a variety of creative yet practical designs.

With help from "Beds and Borders" I was able to implement my own design for a small border in my tiny front yard, a step that I would not have been able to accomplish on my own.

All of the books in this series are topical and very worthwhile. I highly recommend them.

This is a good book for the beginning gardner in need of ideas for planting a garden. It illustrates 21 planting schemes and provides brief how-to-do guidelines. Generally included in the instructions are: the latin name of all plants needed and he number of plants needed; special tools and equipment when indicated; designing, spacing, and planting the bed; care and maintenance as well as alternative planting schemes.

Ten years ago in Halkirk, Minnesota, five gifted college students (Jo Granville, Ryan Locke, Larry Kirby, Neal Gowar, and Kendra Bennet) were involved in a psychic experiment, masterminded by Professor Wakely and the FBI, to "build the profile of a serial killer." Now that imaginary killer (known as Joshua Valentine) has somehow become real and is eager to kill again--unless these five friends can stop him.

While "Bloody Valentine" is just over 400 pages, it's relatively fast-paced and suspenseful (though a lot of time is spent channeling Joshua), thanks to George's easy-to-read, terse writing. To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from this book when I first picked it up. By the title and cover alone (blood in the title and on the cover, seeping out of a woman's eyes like tears, mirrored in a descending knife blade), I expected a run-of-the-mill slasher, especially coming from Zebra, not that I'm knocking them. In fact, I support any publisher that still prints horror. It's just hard to find anything original published after the '80s. ("Bloody Valentine" was published in January 1994.)

Anyway, after a couple chapters into it, I couldn't put the book down. I was certainly impressed. "Bloody Valentine" is one of the few exceptionally-written supernatural horror novels that I've read in a long time. It's well worth your time and money if you're into this genre.

I was already a fan of this author's work (see my reviews of NIGHTSCAPE and DARK REUNION) when I picked this book up. But after I read BLOODY VALENTINE, I went on a wild search to find all of his books. A group of college students participate in an experiment to profile an imaginary serial killer. No detail is spared and when it's over, they have what is almost a living and breathing person on paper. Unfortunately, this "imaginary" killer doesn't want to stay in the confines of the role playing experiment. When people begin to die in circumstances that match the modus operandi of the invented killer, the experiment is called off. Years later, however, it looks as though the killer wants to come back and play, seeming to materialize from the very darkness of the participants' imagination. It will take all of them to stop him, to try and understand exactly what he is, but the killer has plans of his own and time is running out. As usual, Mr. George executes this idea with great skill and enthusiasm. It's one of his best, and a must have for people who love suspense and horror.

The Postmodern Bible provides what is as close as anyone will ever get to a contemporary handbook on "postmodern" methods of approaching, reading, using and interpreting the Bible. One might ask why such a book is needed. I would reply that this book is needed because it implicates the readers of the Bible in the matters it wishes to bring to bear in biblical study. This book attempts to show (in my estimation) that reading the Bible is a social act, a personal act, a political act and a cultural act. And this book preaches what it practices for it is written by a self-styled "Bible and Culture Collective", a group of scholarly "young turks" no less, who amply demonstrate that projects worked on together need not end up being mish-mashes of the wants and desires of those composing them.

This book has both direction and drive. In seven compact yet thorough discussions we are introduced, in theory and practice, to seven contemporary approaches to the practice of biblical reading. Many, if not all, of these (reader-response criticism, poststructuralism, feminist and womanist criticism) are hardly novel outside of the biblical field but then that seems the point of this book; that is, to attempt (or continue to attempt) to intergrate biblical studies ever more closely with, or into, literary studies and cultural studies. This seems the pervasive agenda of this book.

I must admit that I have an interest in reviewing this book, however. I was taught for three years as an undergraduate by one of the "Bible and Culture Collective", Stephen D. Moore. I can confirm that the Collective, if Moore be an example, do indeed practice what they preach in this book. I have to say it sets the Bible on fire in new and exciting ways. If you want to engage the Bible from some new angles or just want to get up date and clear in your mind on contemporary methods of biblical interpretation then get this book. It has no serious challengers in its field to date.

If you've ever been puzzled by the formula of 'post-modern' and 'biblical studies,' then you'd be wise to pick up this exhaustive and personable piece of academic fervor. Among others, The Postmodern Bible fuses epistemological, religious, and cultural frameworks into a textual craft that will keep you poised with more questions. I recommend this book to anyone who takes the Bible seriously - whether you're a theologian, academic, or a heady poser, you'll want to have this book on the shelves of your mind.

Our family has the fortune of having Frank Finale as a teacher to both our children.

He has done a wonderful job capturing the Jersey Shore for all of its charms and the many artists who live here.

First, the editors of To the Shore Once should be congratulated. They chose 101 drawings, etchings,and paintings from local New Jersey and some national artists. These works of Art complement Mr. Frank Finale's writing in essays, prose and poetry. You, turn the page and you feel like you are at the beach in Spring Lake, Belmar or Manasquan. Even the carrousel of 1950s Asbury Park is represented. As I think of Frank O'Hara's book on Jackson Pollock, To The Shore Once More will become a classic coffee table book for years to come. Art and prose and poetry, what a nice mix. We have Mr. Frank Finale to thank for such a beautiful book this Summer

George Box is one of the statistical giants of the 20th Century. He started his career in chemical engineering in England where he learned the importance of experimental design and statistical methods. He came to the US in 1953 and spent time at North Carolina State College and later came back to be part of the statistics group at Princeton. After that he founded the Department fo Statistics at the University of Wisconsin. This history and other important career decisions icluding the founding of Technometrics are detailed in the brief section "My Professional Life" that he wrote for this volume.

Box's contributions to statistics are diverse and large. He developed many practical statistical designs including the central composite design. He is responsible for evolutionary operation and wrote a book on it with Norman Draper. He has also made major contributions to response surface methodology.

With Gwilym Jenkins he systematized the application of the ARIMA models and led the development of software for easy application of these model building techniques. He championed the concept of parsimonious models and insisted that model building should be an iterative and continually evolving technique. He contributed to the area of control through his stochastic time series models and found ways to incorporate it in manufacturing process control.

With David Cox he developed the Box-Cox family of transformations. These simple power transformation can be used to make the data have an approximate normal shape. he gave a prescription for how to estimate or pick the power to use based on the data.

These enormous contributions can be found in the volumes of collected works that Tiao and others have edited. His contributions can also be seen from his books on evolutionary operation, time series analysis, automated process control, empirical model building and response surfaces, and practical experimental designs ("Statistics for Experimenters").

However in the decades of the 80s and 90s from age 60 to 80, instead of retiring, George Box took on the challenge of developing a center for quality and productivity at the University of Wisconsin. This volme, edited by Tiao, Bisgaard, Hill, Pena and Stigler provides a collection of articles by Box. These are mostly articles written in the 1990s covering the subjects of A) continuous process improvement, B) designing experiments to gain quality information, C) sequential investigation and discovery (including response surface methods), D) quality control and E) learning how to identify and reduce variation or be less sensitive to it by constructing robust processes (i.e. processes not sensitive to minor changes in process parameters). The articles are mostly directed toward quality issues and are mostly articles that were published in the 1990s or 2000 with a few from the 80s. Some are important technical contributions but many are also very philosophical.

George Box is one of the great thinkers of the 20th century and his philosophy on statistics and scientific inference is as important as his many technical contributions. There are 46 articles in total 4 on topic A, 12 on B, 10 on C, 11 on D and 9 on E. Each topic area has a brief introduction identifying a unifying theme in the papers in that section.

Box has a terrific sense of humor that often comes out in his lectures and sometimes in his writings. One gets a good appreciation of it by reading the three songs on statistics that are included in Part F of the book. This is only a sample of several that he has written that are parodies of familiar tunes. Of these three my favorite is "There's no theorem like Bayes theorem" to the tune of "There's no business like show business."

There is a nice bibliography in the back of the book that is followed by a biography on Box and a list of his books and articles published between 1982 and 1999. This includes 3 books and 91 articles! Believe it or not he published even more in his earlier years.

This is a great book for anyone who loves math problems. Also it is great for anyone studying for the American MAthematics Contest. It reviews all kinds of problems and is very useful. It will improve your score dramaticley. Since it is currently backordered you can have my copy email me mw@ikrsna.com

This 2001 collection of essays from 22 living theologians is a celebration of the 70th birthday of a pastoral human being who is a renowned transcontinental scholar of our times. It is obvious that Fr. O'Collins' deep faith in Jesus Christ has personally touched each writer as they participate in his enthusiastic search for truth. The book is a theological treasure that will find a warm welcome in global circles. While I did not receive any new insights, the work tied together numerous concepts that are fundamental to Christian theology. I would highly recommend this "Festschrift" for Adult Lifelong Learning groups as well as for College courses. For all who engage in "faith seeking understanding," it treats many topics that provide stimulating reflection and discussion. It leaves one immersed in an experience of a lived community of believers. Happy Birthday, Gerry!

With movies like Patriot reviving an interest in our Colonial roots, our heritage of faith is also reviving. One of the stories that has not been told well enough is how our American Revolution grew out of a revival of Christian faith called the Great Awakening. The leader of this movement was an amazing man named George Whitefield. Few know that name today, but our Founding Fathers new it well and honored it as a force in the founding of our nation

Stephen Mansfield has written an accessible, moving, skillfully told story of the man who is indeed our "Forgotten Founding Father." If you love this book as I do, then don't miss Mansfield's other biographies, like Never Give In on Winston Churchill and Then Darkness Fled on Booker T. Washington. Each of these marvelous books restores a heritage largely lost to our generation.

While I have all four of these books in Paperback and therefore have had no need to buy this book I have looked through this book and I think buying this one is a MUCH better idea than buying them seperately. This book includes pictures, Drawings by Al Hirschfield, Cut-Lyrics and more. All four of the shows are purely genius and provide you with laughter while provoking thoughts. This is a must for all Sondheim fans and musical fans and anyone interested in 4 great shows: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Sunday in the Park With George,Sweeny Todd, and A Little Night Music.

I have an interest in ohio history, aspeacialy frontiersmen. The accounts represented in this book are the most accurate Ive read anywhere. The accounts of Lewis Wetzle are the most consistant ive been able to find anywhere. it makes very good reading and I use it for references as well. If you want to learn more about actual events and not just made up story lines then this is the book for you!